Note: You can click on each image below to view a larger version.
This page contains some aerial views of East Anglia, taken on a flight with Classic Wings, who operate pleasure flights in various types of vintage aircraft. Click on each picture to open a larger version in a new window.
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ABOVE: The aircraft, a 1934 De Havilland Dragon Rapide. You enter through a small door in the side at the rear, so getting to your seat is like walking up stairs, and the passengers have to be arranged according to their weight to ensure that the load is evenly balanced. It's a cramped, box-like fuselage, with a very basic cockpit stuck on the front (above right).
With the propellers thrashing away just outside the windows it's also very noisy - or at least, it seems that way compared to the luxuries of modern commercial aviation.
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ABOVE LEFT: A close-up of Ely Cathedral, construction of which begin in the year 1083, although the building has undergone extensive restorations in the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries. There is no larger version of this picture available, as this is already an enlargement of a very small area on the original photograph.
ABOVE RIGHT: I can't remember exactly where this was taken, but I like the picture anyway.
| RIGHT: The ancient city of Ely, originally founded in 673AD. This whole area was once a mixture of marsh and low islands known as the Fens, a flat plain kept flooded by rainwater and flooding from the North Sea. | |
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Various attempts were made to drain the Fens from Roman times onwards, but it was only in the 1640s that any real progress was made. This was carried out by wealthy landowners such as the Earl of Bedford, who wished to farm the rich soil, and it completely changed the nature of the landscape. It also destroyed the livelihoods of the local people, who lived mostly by hunting and fishing, and the drainage program was therefore obstructed by frequent riots and sabotage.
Ely itself was an island until the 18th century, and gets its name from the Eels that were once caught there in great numbers.
| RIGHT: Another view of Ely, with the cathedral just below the centre of the image. | |
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ABOVE LEFT: The eastern edge of Cambridge, looking towards the airport.
ABOVE RIGHT: The centre of Cambridge, looking over "the Backs", an area of lawns and gardens sloping down to the river behind some of the most famous colleges. King's College is just below the centre of the image, with a good view of its chapel (the long building with the white roof).
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LEFT: A typical East Anglian landscape. This remains a major agricultural area, so in many places there is nothing but flat well-ordered fields stretching away in every direction. It's basically a huge open-air factory. |
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RIGHT: Finally, a view looking back over the wing. |
URL: http://www.randomnotes.co.uk/Travel/EastAngliaprint.htm